Re: Reasons To Be Grumpy thread

[Dave]

Geez! What a worry; not conducive to staying well Velma. We are so privileged here to have free prescriptions over the age of 60. Even under that age, it is possible to buy a 12-month certificate ' which caps the amount you spend in a year to £104. I wish you all the best. I know it's a horrible disease.

This is another one of those times when I wish I lived in a true first world country instead of the USA.

Autoimmune diseases are pretty awful. The best treatment so far, including the expensive new drugs, it to try to weaken the immune system in some manner so it is not as aggressive. That's why I laugh at people who say they want an super strong immune system. I tell them they can have my super strong immune system as long as they take the autoimmune disease that goes with it.

I cannot really imagine your pain, Velma, the nearest I have to that is a mildish case of bursutis in my hips - annoying describes it best. Though I have suffered prolonged pain, in terms of several months, at a level that makes it difficult to do anything else but hope it goes away. The fact that I knew there was a point at shich it would "heal", after surgery and medication, kept me going. Even if I did spend most of those months lsying on my side.

I also had the knowledge that the treatment was, in effect, already paid for by years of paying a fairly low tax. Our NHS can be slow and a bit inefficient but it works.

(I will admit I had a private consultation, at my own cost, because I could not stand the idea of a six week wait just for a primary diagnosis - I already knew what the problem was but needed the surgeon to know as well! Thus I "trimmed" those six weeks of pain away.)

[Velma]

Right now, with the prescription pain medication hysteria in the US, the best I can hope for is that we manage to get the autoimmune disease under control again. That will bring my pain level down. However, due to past damage (and other conditions), it will not return to zero. Of course, I'll be happy if it returns to the usual level of four or five (on a scale of 1-10) instead of the five to seven that it has been lately.

I'm by no means looking for sympathy. It is what it is and I have to live with it. I'm just doing what millions of other people do every day and getting up and getting on with my life. There is no point in waiting for it to get better, because it may not. It is not brave or heroic. It is, at least in part, the knowledge that giving up will only make things get worse that much faster. That and my sheer hard headedness - a family trait that is particularly strong in the women on my mother's side. 

[Dave]

... It is what it is and I have to live with it. I'm just doing what millions of other people do every day and getting up and getting on with my life. ...

I can understand that, Velna. So long as the pain is not totally debilitating life, and all its essential chores, has to go on.

[Biggus Dickus]

First our server when down in the office, a few days later it was the colour printer, and then Friday the refrigerator in our office kitchen sprung a leak.

Now everyone in the office is talking about how things happen in threes, whether it's celebrity deaths or office machines.

I just smile and nod my head....people are weird.

[xSilverPhinx]

Interpersonal conflict IRL.   

[Arturo]

Pooping

[Dave]

Who's the silly twat that ended up with car and property insurance coming renewable in the same month then?

Who has just parted with £500+ then?

Me!

[Dragonia]

^^^I feel your pain, it's December for me. We put money aside all year for all the money we have to dole out in December. It hurts. 

[xSilverPhinx]

^ It's every month for me, I'm short every fricken' month.

[Arturo]

I'm a welfare bro. It's like retirement, but with the looming threat the people who are actually retired will vote someone in to kick you off.

[Dave]

Ow! Ow! Bloody OW! Grown man who has suffered and conquered much illness is reduced to whingeing wreck!

Gout's flared again, worse case so far! Bit of a twinge couple of days ago then 24 hours of relief - then ZAP yesterday evening. Well, zero to 8 on the pain scale in two hours. 10 on the scale was not the heart attack, that was an 8 as well, but the problem in the nether regions couple of years ago.

1.00am and just taken the first of the Colchicine tabs. Try to avoid them but not this time. The body reacts to gout as it does to a an infection and sends whole armies of white blood cells to the presumed battle site. But the problem does not reduce so it sends more. This causes the local swelling and that causes the pain. Colchicine reduces the total white cell count. Good for the gout pain but leaves you vulnerable to any actual infections going around, so limited to 12 tabs at two per day, with a 3 day gap between courses.

Have to put it down to that makerel I had the other day, that is one of the forbidden fruits - though at other times it has not bothered me. Perhaps the previous twinge was a warning, "Eat not of the Forbidden Fruits or you will have knowledge of Bloody Agony!"

[Magdalena]

Ow! Ow! Bloody OW! Grown man who has suffered and conquered much illness is reduced to whingeing wreck!

Gout's flared again, worse case so far! Bit of a twinge couple of days ago then 24 hours of relief - then ZAP yesterday evening. Well, zero to 8 on the pain scale in two hours. 10 on the scale was not the heart attack, that was an 8 as well, but the problem in the nether regions couple of years ago.

1.00am and just taken the first of the Colchicine tabs. Try to avoid them but not this time. The body reacts to gout as it does to a an infection and sends whole armies of white blood cells to the presumed battle site. But the problem does not reduce so it sends more. This causes the local swelling and that causes the pain. Colchicine reduces the total white cell count. Good for the gout pain but leaves you vulnerable to any actual infections going around, so limited to 12 tabs at two per day, with a 3 day gap between courses.

Have to put it down to that makerel I had the other day, that is one of the forbidden fruits - though at other times it has not bothered me. Perhaps the previous twinge was a warning, "Eat not of the Forbidden Fruits or you will have knowledge of Bloody Agony!"

[Dave]

Ow! Ow! Bloody OW! Grown man who has suffered and conquered much illness is reduced to whingeing wreck!

Gout's flared again, worse case so far! Bit of a twinge couple of days ago then 24 hours of relief - then ZAP yesterday evening. Well, zero to 8 on the pain scale in two hours. 10 on the scale was not the heart attack, that was an 8 as well, but the problem in the nether regions couple of years ago.

1.00am and just taken the first of the Colchicine tabs. Try to avoid them but not this time. The body reacts to gout as it does to a an infection and sends whole armies of white blood cells to the presumed battle site. But the problem does not reduce so it sends more. This causes the local swelling and that causes the pain. Colchicine reduces the total white cell count. Good for the gout pain but leaves you vulnerable to any actual infections going around, so limited to 12 tabs at two per day, with a 3 day gap between courses.

Have to put it down to that makerel I had the other day, that is one of the forbidden fruits - though at other times it has not bothered me. Perhaps the previous twinge was a warning, "Eat not of the Forbidden Fruits or you will have knowledge of Bloody Agony!"

Thanks, Mags, that helps.

So did max dose of tylenol/codeine combo, pain at tolerable level at moment but have not tried walking. Problem is my digestive system does not like even minor opioids, morphine is a definite no-no. But, at the moment I will swap reduced pain for temporary constipation quite happily.

[Magdalena]

Ow! Ow! Bloody OW! Grown man who has suffered and conquered much illness is reduced to whingeing wreck!

Gout's flared again, worse case so far! Bit of a twinge couple of days ago then 24 hours of relief - then ZAP yesterday evening. Well, zero to 8 on the pain scale in two hours. 10 on the scale was not the heart attack, that was an 8 as well, but the problem in the nether regions couple of years ago.

1.00am and just taken the first of the Colchicine tabs. Try to avoid them but not this time. The body reacts to gout as it does to a an infection and sends whole armies of white blood cells to the presumed battle site. But the problem does not reduce so it sends more. This causes the local swelling and that causes the pain. Colchicine reduces the total white cell count. Good for the gout pain but leaves you vulnerable to any actual infections going around, so limited to 12 tabs at two per day, with a 3 day gap between courses.

Have to put it down to that makerel I had the other day, that is one of the forbidden fruits - though at other times it has not bothered me. Perhaps the previous twinge was a warning, "Eat not of the Forbidden Fruits or you will have knowledge of Bloody Agony!"

Thanks, Mags, that helps.

So did max dose of tylenol/codeine combo, pain at tolerable level at moment but have not tried walking. Problem is my digestive system does not like even minor opioids, morphine is a definite no-no. But, at the moment I will swap reduced pain for temporary constipation quite happily.

My dear, G, I'm sure saying "there, there" doesn't help at all, but there's not much I can do to help you get rid of the pain...we're so far away from each other. 

I worry about your health problems, sometimes, but then I see your posts, like the Brünhilde one,  and knowing that you still have a great sense of humor lets me know that you're gonna be alright. 

[Dave]

^ Just knowing someone feels for you helps, Mags.

Despite it all I am a fairly robust person. OK, very dickey ticker kept going by strong chemicals and clever electronics - and a certain degree of cussedness! Actuarially I am kicking the statistics out of the window. I am convinced attitude helps in such things, and I got attitude when I need it.

Problems like gout are not life threatening, unless you are of a suicudal nature. I am 72 and have had a rough ride in some ways but still retain a sense of survival, and of humour. If you can't have a giggle might as well pull the hole in! I still feel tomorrow is more important than yesterday.

Thanks for being concerned, Mags but don't worry too much, I am actually doing better in many ways than I was this time last year.